IT Hardware – The engines that power your system

Hardware procurement is an activity that is often carried out in a piecemeal fashion, and can be motivated by a variety of reasons. Often it’s to replace equipment that is outdated or broken, perhaps to get something that “we’ve been told is great”, or just simply to try and take advantage of the “good deal” that runs out tomorrow!.

There are a number of factors to consider however when making a wise purchase:

Quality:

A system is only as good as it’s worst component. Poor-quality hardware may result in a saving of a few pounds up-front, but will quickly start costing much more than any initial saving because of poor performance, faults and support calls.

Performance:

With the daily changes in technology available, networks are changing, data is changing, bandwidth requirements are changing. Almost every aspect of a system has different requirements & capabilities today than last year, and it is crucial to ensure that your choice of equipment will comfortably be able to do everything needed & more for now and for the foreseeable future.

Scalability & flexibility:

One of the characteristics of a well-planned hardware inventory is to try as far as possible to ensure that your computer & networking hardware infrastructure is capable of growing with you. Some hardware is easier to replace than upgrade but there are many instances where you may be able to add capacity to existing hardware thereby achieving easy scalability. This is generally preferable to having to carry out a major works upgrade at each instance where additional capacity is required. Infrastructure that is scalable, flexible & high performance is rarely they cheapest option. However, companies that invest wisely in hardware at the procurement stage will reap the rewards of having a system that runs efficiently, smoothly & reliably over a longer lifetime.

IT hardware adds most value to an IT system but it must be procured with common sense, experience and a constant eye kept on the bigger picture. Having to replace a bad purchase that actually works fine, but is quickly rendered inadequate due to a short-sighted approach, is expensive and time consuming. It is an all too common scenario that can easily be avoided with the right advice. This experience & planning expertise is something that we can help with.

Proper planning and experience will ensure that your purchase decision represents not only the best value today, but stands the test of time and continues to perform reliably and satisfactorily throughout its lifetime.

Software – Driving those hardware engines

Without software, hardware is useless. Schools would grind to a halt as hardware sits dormant and unused. A number of things have to be considered when choosing software for your school.

• Is your existing software the best choice for you or your organisation?
• How do you choose what new software application will work best for you?
• How do you know what applications will work best when interacting with each other?
• Are you sure that you’re getting the best possible use from your applications & software?
• Maybe there is a free or open-source alternative to that expensive package you have your eye on. Have you considered freeware or shareware?

We offer software recommendation, supply, installation, configuration & support to our clients. Patches and updates are managed by us as part of our support service. Our range of software is comprehensive, with thousands of titles available on a next-day basis. We supply titles from most education and mainstream publishers and are happy to discuss any requirement with you, be it general or specialist. All of our titles are genuine 100% legal UK-specific (where available) software. You can be sure that when you buy from us, you always get the best advice & product. Software is also available to our customers under various licensing options, depending on the type of organisation or end-user. We offer special discounts on many products for use by schools and colleges, teachers and students, charities and for public-sector use.

We have extensive experience with a range of infrastructure and Line-of-Business applications, including:

• Server operating systems – Microsoft Windows Server
• Email Systems – Exchange and Outlook, Entourage etc.
• Desktop operating systems – Window & Mac OS
• School Admin packages – SIMS, BSquared etc.
• Office suites – Microsoft Office, Open Office etc
• Graphic design & multimedia packages – Photoshop, Premier, etc
• Security software – AV Protection, Malware protection etc.
• Data archival / backup software – onsite and offsite
• Email archival / backup software – onsite and offsite
• Accounting packages – QuickBooks, Sage etc.
• CRM software

If you have any queries about software recommendation, pricing or availability, please click the link at the bottom of the page, email us at info@iforge.co.uk or call us on 0345 200 7828.